Mike's Late Build Thread (2000 Stone White XJ)
#31
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Thread Starter
Went on another junkyard trip yesterday. I was looking for a splash guard for the engine, but no luck. I did manage to find some other stuff I needed though. I got a door speaker and a rear speaker. Also found some interior dome light bulbs I was missing. The best thing I found was a set of original rear floor mats for my interior.
I took advice from a BleepinJeep video and found a long cargo van and tore out a huge piece of the wiring harness.
This will come in handy as I’m doing more and more wiring on my Jeep. There’s a ton of wire inside this conduit, all just for $5!
I even found a ratcheting screwdriver that someone left behind!
My junkyard finds from yesterday.
I took advice from a BleepinJeep video and found a long cargo van and tore out a huge piece of the wiring harness.
This will come in handy as I’m doing more and more wiring on my Jeep. There’s a ton of wire inside this conduit, all just for $5!
I even found a ratcheting screwdriver that someone left behind!
My junkyard finds from yesterday.
#32
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Thread Starter
The inside of my Jeep got a little muddy and dirty from the last couple times we went off-road. I can’t stand a dirty vehicle, (on the inside at least) so I went to town vacuuming and cleaning the inside, starting from the rear.
Before cleaning
Highly recommend A+++
I have to say that this is the best interior cleaner that money can buy. It's cheap, smells good, and works wonders. I use this for cleaning deep stains and dirt out of carpet, detailing any interior plastic or vinyl, and for deep cleaning cloth seats. I wish they made an air freshener with this stuff also. It smells like the whole vehicle has been shampooed after you clean with it. Tuff Stuff really stands up to its name.
After cleaning
All clean. I decided to throw some empty ammo cans in the back to use as storage containers. I put my jumper cables and towing chains in there. They look pretty cool too
Before cleaning
Highly recommend A+++
I have to say that this is the best interior cleaner that money can buy. It's cheap, smells good, and works wonders. I use this for cleaning deep stains and dirt out of carpet, detailing any interior plastic or vinyl, and for deep cleaning cloth seats. I wish they made an air freshener with this stuff also. It smells like the whole vehicle has been shampooed after you clean with it. Tuff Stuff really stands up to its name.
After cleaning
All clean. I decided to throw some empty ammo cans in the back to use as storage containers. I put my jumper cables and towing chains in there. They look pretty cool too
Last edited by mikecorrell; 08-26-2018 at 08:30 PM.
#34
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Thread Starter
I went to install my new dome lights and figured out why one of the previous owners took them out in the first place:
They won’t shut off.
Apparently this is a common problem. I thought maybe someone clicked the lights on in the rear and didn’t realize they could shut them off before they removed the bulb. Nope.
So I looked into checking my door jamb switches. The driver’s side seemed fine, but when I removed the passenger switch it looked like this:
They won’t shut off.
Apparently this is a common problem. I thought maybe someone clicked the lights on in the rear and didn’t realize they could shut them off before they removed the bulb. Nope.
So I looked into checking my door jamb switches. The driver’s side seemed fine, but when I removed the passenger switch it looked like this:
#35
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Thread Starter
So I ran to autozone and got a replacement switch.
That did it, now my dome lights work like they’re supposed to!
This kind of makes me realize my headliner desperately needs to be changed...
That did it, now my dome lights work like they’re supposed to!
This kind of makes me realize my headliner desperately needs to be changed...
Last edited by mikecorrell; 08-26-2018 at 05:17 PM.
#36
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Thread Starter
Dome light update:
Kind of weird, but for some reason my dome lights turn on when I hit the brakes harder than normal, accelerate hard, or hit rough bumps. Not really sure what would cause that... maybe I didn’t put the new switch in right or I got a faulty one.
Kind of weird, but for some reason my dome lights turn on when I hit the brakes harder than normal, accelerate hard, or hit rough bumps. Not really sure what would cause that... maybe I didn’t put the new switch in right or I got a faulty one.
#37
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Year: 2000
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
So you close the door, which pushes in the plunger, which shuts off the lights. Maybe the Jeep is flexing just enough to let the plunger come out enough to turn on the lights when you hit the brakes harder than normal, accelerate hard, or hit rough bumps. Can the depth of the plunger be adjusted? As I typed this it seemed like a dumb thought but this was the first thing that popped into my head when I read your post. Could just be a poor electrical connection too.
Last edited by Ralph77; 09-01-2018 at 06:55 AM.
#38
Member
Thread Starter
So you close the door, which pushes in the plunger, which shuts off the lights. Maybe the Jeep is flexing just enough to let the plunger come out enough to turn on the lights when you hit the brakes harder than normal, accelerate hard, or hit rough bumps. Can the depth of the plunger be adjusted? As I typed this it seemed like a dumb thought but this was the first thing that popped into my head when I read your post. Could just be a poor electrical connection too.
#41
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#43
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#44
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Update
I’ve been inactive for a little while, haven’t had time to work on my Jeep due to being busy at college; just changed my major and got a new schedule.
This weekend we got around to getting Noah’s Jeep back on the road since he came back from college for the weekend. We took the transfer case out of his parts Cherokee and threw it in his 96, along with the parts Jeep rear driveshaft.
We took both front driveshafts to a driveshaft shop and found that the double cardan joint actually snapped in half on his 96, so he decided to get his parts Jeep front shaft rebuilt cheaper.
I have some more problems/upgrades to address on my Cherokee, happening soon (hopefully).
This weekend we got around to getting Noah’s Jeep back on the road since he came back from college for the weekend. We took the transfer case out of his parts Cherokee and threw it in his 96, along with the parts Jeep rear driveshaft.
We took both front driveshafts to a driveshaft shop and found that the double cardan joint actually snapped in half on his 96, so he decided to get his parts Jeep front shaft rebuilt cheaper.
I have some more problems/upgrades to address on my Cherokee, happening soon (hopefully).
#45
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Thread Starter
So I got my new steering damper in the mail today. I took the old one off and ran into a problem before I installed the new one.
The new damper came with a new stud that goes in the drag link at the top of the damper, so I wanted to put the new one in. I wailed on the stud with a hammer and it wouldn’t budge.
Since i ruined the threads by hitting it with a hammer, now I had to take the entire drag link off the Jeep to press the stud out with my vise.
I threaded the castle nut backwards on my tie rod ends so I could hit them out with a hammer. In doing so, I hit my inner tie rod so hard that the nut actually pushed down and destroyed half the threads and left the nut stuck on there.
That resulted in cutting the tie rod end off with a cutting wheel.
So I guess it’s time for a ZJ tie rod upgrade
My ZJ tie rod comes in tomorrow, so hopefully all will go smoother then.
New Rancho Steering Damper from Rockauto.com
I’d say that’s an improvement
Fresh paint on front axle
The new damper came with a new stud that goes in the drag link at the top of the damper, so I wanted to put the new one in. I wailed on the stud with a hammer and it wouldn’t budge.
Since i ruined the threads by hitting it with a hammer, now I had to take the entire drag link off the Jeep to press the stud out with my vise.
I threaded the castle nut backwards on my tie rod ends so I could hit them out with a hammer. In doing so, I hit my inner tie rod so hard that the nut actually pushed down and destroyed half the threads and left the nut stuck on there.
That resulted in cutting the tie rod end off with a cutting wheel.
So I guess it’s time for a ZJ tie rod upgrade
My ZJ tie rod comes in tomorrow, so hopefully all will go smoother then.
New Rancho Steering Damper from Rockauto.com
I’d say that’s an improvement
Fresh paint on front axle